Society of British and International Design to Launch New Intellectual Property Protection Program

Architectural Digest reports that starting 2018, interior designers will be able to register their work to protect against unlicensed counterfeits.

In an event held at the British House of Commons last week, the UK’s foremost organization for accrediting interior designers launched the SBID Intellectual Property initiative in partnership with IP anti-crime organization TM Eye. Its purpose is to help interior designers register ownership of their work, while also raising awareness of and elevating the discourse around intellectual property law as it relates to the world of design.

The program arises from a common problem that plagues the design industry: the theft of ideas included in commercial presentations that are then replicated by other parties without appropriate consent, credit, or compensation. In addition to diluting the brand and business of individual interior designers and their firms, this type of theft can often leave consumers oblivious to the fact that they’ve purchased inferior knockoff furniture.

By leveraging TM Eye’s existing experience upholding design rights across industries ranging from luxury goods to pharmaceuticals, SBID hopes the initiative can eventually disentangle the issue of design rights from trademark law, which is often a major stumbling block to resolving infringement issues in the interior design space. With SBID’s awareness campaign set to launch in January and the international register set to launch later in 2018, interior designers are one step closer to having their ideas and creative output enjoy the protected status they deserve.